Method of knitting



Patented June 17, 1941 2,246,019 METHOD F xNrr'rlNG Eugene St. Pierre,Pawtucket, R. I., asslgnor to e Hemphill Company, Central Falls, E. I.,a corporation of Massachusetts A Application November 2s, 193s, serialNo. 242,665

4 Claims.

'I'his case concerns knitting fabrics in string work and a new method orapplication of such work to fabrics in which an elastic yarn isincorporated.

In the figures of drawing:

Fig. 1 is a. conventional view of a. fabric greatly enlarged where oneform of the invention is shown; and

Fig. 2 is a similar view but showing a slightly different form o rmodification of the invention.

In certain types of knitting such as in the knitting of hosiery, it hasbeen found practicable to knit in what is generally termed string work.Instead of casting each completed article or section of fabric from theneedles of the machine and starting anew on the next following article,it has been found advantageous to knit continuously, a section of fabricbeing knitted between consecutive articles which is later to be cut,broken 'or destroyed in some fashion so as to separate the indivldual,knitted articles after a. series of them have been taken from themachine.

Generally this method has been practiced where no wrap striping or otherwork was being done which necessitated stopping between the knittedarticles, stockings or the like, so that there will be suiiicient movesin the machine to take care of changes at the end of one knitted articleand at the beginning of the next. Furthermore. when a true rib top wasto be transferred to knitting machine needles as in a hosiery machine,there was necessarily a stop for thisoperation so that string work couldnot be knitted, and it was with the start throws into action an elasticyarn and a plain yarn which thereafter knit through the entire top orwelt. It is not necessary to make any hand transfer at this point andsince few moves of the machine are necessary, it is possible to knitstring work by feeding an extremly light breaking thread to the needlesfor a few courses after knitting the loopers rounds in the precedingstocking and before these changes in the machine. incidental to startingthe selvage and following portion of this type of elastic'garter top. Inanother form of the invention the same thread if employed in theknitting of the loopers rounds may be conthis type of machine in whicha. transferred top was and to tie them. As the next article is started,

whether started by transferring a true rib top to the needles or byrunning on, these ends of wrap yarnswere applied to the needles byattaching a weight and dropping the'same down through an opening in thebinder plate. This meansthat considerable hand work is involved and timeis consumed while the machine is stopped between l knittingconsecutvestockings.

In the knitting of a stocking top such as disclosed in St. Pierre Patent#2,131,720 wherein an elastic yarn is fed at a separate feed forsimulating a rib appearance and for making the stocking self supporting,one move of the machine at tinued for these breaking vor pull courses,but in that case as in the previous, a series of courses will be knittedpreferably extremely loosely so that they may be withdrawn by cutting atboth sides and pulling out one or more of the courses. In eitherinstance the remaining fabric from this breaking or pull section will beunravelled leaving a clean selvage at the top of the next stocking.Referring to Fig. 1, the courses I and 2 are the last knitted courses inthe loopers rounds of the preceding stocking. Then the machine ischanged so that the stitch cam will be moved downwardly, or othersatisfactory changes made, so that much longer and looser stitches .maybe drawn. Also at the same time, a yarn change is effected so that avery light breaking thread 3 is thrown into operation for a fewcourses', herein indicated as four courses, 4, 5, 6 and 1. This sectionof breaking courses may be knitted with any desired or satisfactorynumber of courses, fo'ur being illustrated since that has been found towork very well. At the end of these breaking courses, another change ismade wherein an elastic yarn 8 is drawn at an auxiliary feed such asillustrated in said St. Pierre patent, above mentioned, and at the mainside, a so-called plain yarn 9. First the elastic yarn is taken at everyother needle, that is, in wales I Il, I2 and It and is actually drawninto a. knitted loop at each of these wales. At the main side the plainyarn 9 is knitted by all needl, thus being knitted in the wales I0, I2and I4 and also in the intervening wales II and I3. Obviously, theelastic stitches whl h were drawn at Wales I0, I2 and .I4 will be knited off as-plain yarn is drawn through them at that feed. vThis procedureisrepeated at each subsequent course throughout the full extent of theelastic, simulated rib top.

After the entire top has been knitted the leg and foot including theheel and toe, etc., are knitted up to the loopers rounds whereupon theprocedure as just described with respect to Fig. 1

is repeated. After a number of such connected articles have beenknitted. one of the breaking sections between articles is pulled out-thus discon-` necting a whole string of said connected articles whichare preferably stockings such as half hose, childrens hosiery, anklets,and possibly ladies' knee or full length hosiery. Then the series ofarticles which has been taken from the machine will be disconnected bybreaking apart each individual section and it is to be understood thatthis entire operation can be done without stopping the machine.

Very little force is required tobreak one of these sections since theyarn 3 is as weak as can be used without having the same too easilybreakable when knitting. Each article which has been broken away willhave the few remaining courses of this breaking thread unravelledleaving the yarn 8 threaded through the sinker loops of the ilrstcoursev of plain yarn 9. While in the illustration the yarn 8 is showndrawn into. knitted loops on this rst course, 'once released and thebreaking courses removed, that yarn straightens out and merely serves atthe selvage to prevent any possibility of raveiling. If by any chancethe breaking thread should be too strong, or accidentally either theyarn 8' or 9 in one of the initial courses should be destroyed, it ismerely necessary in this type of top to ravel out until the firstunbroken course of elastic yarn is reached.

being unaffected by the presence or knitting of the elastic yarn 8. Anytype of ornamentation may be knitted throughout the leg or foot of thestocking. Another point oi" advantagel particularly worthy of mention isthat it is neither necessary to stop for transferring a rib top to theneedles nor is it necessary to stop-the machine for cutting and tying upthe wrap yarns. lThey may be fed continuously, being knitted in oncertain needles in accordance with desired patterns throughout thoseareas desired. When not'being l knitted, they merely oat down within theknitted stocking tube and need not be cut since no transfer isnecessary. When the pull course or breaking courses are knitted thesewrap yarns will be floated idly and even though a little more of thewrap yarn may be drawn than would otherwise be the case, the opposite issometimes true since in cutting these wrap threads and in tying them,

. That will present a fast edge so that in any form I1, I8 and I9 arepull courses and preferably are knitted from the same yarn I' from whichthe loopers rounds were knitted. These pull courses are knitted fromloops much longer and looser than usual so that they are easilydistinguished and may be cut at one side so that a course or courses maybe easily withdrawn. This practice.

is well known to those skilled in the art and the actual cutting at bothsides and pulling of a course is not necessary to be illustrated ordescribed in greater detail here. At the end of the pull courses, anelastic yarn 8' and a plain yarn 9' are thrown in and a selvage andcontinuing elastic garter top are knitted as described with respect toFig. 1.

While it is preferable that these breaking and pull courses be knittedon every needle since it is not then essential to provide mechanism fordropping certain wales, such courses may be knitted on every otherneedle or on diierent combinations of needles. 'I'he pull courses may beknitted from a diierent yarn if desired, for instance, may be trom ayarn of different color so as to be more easily distinguished fordisconnecting the attached articles and for ravelling out after a coursehas been broken or pulled. The actual pull course or courses may takevarying diierent forms all 'within the scope of the invention asoriginally conceived. The invention is defined in th appended claims.

I claim: l. A method of knitting connected articles as in string workincluding the knitting of sepa- Y rating courses in continuation of thelast knitted the machine operator frequently wastes eonsiderable yarn`4and likewise, when the weight is hookedl on and the yarns are droppeddown through the binder plate, quite 'a bit of yarn is wasted so that itis probable that in most instances less wrap yarn will be required toreed continuously than would be the casein practicing the prior art.Nostops of the machine are` necessary and thus a great saving of timeresults with what may be truly termed, complete'automatic operation.

Referring to Fig. 2 another i'orm ofthe invention is illustrated whereincourses I4 and Iiare the lasty knitted courses in the loopers rounds ofthe previously knittedstocking. Ii,

stitches of a preceding article, and in continuation of said separatingcourses, a second article having at the beginning edge thereof, asalvage including a course of non-elastic yarn and an elastic yarnpassing through all sinker loops in said course, and in continuation,courses of nonelastic yarn with which, at spaced intervals, elastic yarnis incorporated in such-a manner that upon raveling in the direction ofknitting, any one of said courses with which the elastic is incorporatedwill present a selvage.

2. A method of knitting connected articles as in string work includingthe knitting of courses of a*Y relatively weak breaking thread incontinuation of the last knitted stitches of a preceding article, and incontinuation of said breaking thread courses, a second article having atthe beginning edge thereof, a selvage including a course oi non-elasticyarn and an elastic yarn passing through all sinker loops in saidcourse, and in continuation, courses of non-elastic yarn in which, atspaced intervals,` elastic yarn is incorporated in sucli a manner thatupon raveling in the direction of knitting, any one of said courses inwhich the elastic is incorporated will present a selvage.

3. A method of knitting connected articles as in string work includingthe knitting of pull courses in continuation of the last jknittedstitches of a preceding article, and in continuation o! said pullcourses, a second article having at the beginning `edge thereof, aselvage including a course of non-elastic yarn and an elasticyarncpassing through all sinker loops in said course, and incontinuation, courses of noneiastic yarn in which, at spaced intervals.'elastic yarn is incorporated in such a manner that upon raveling inthedirection of knitting, any one of said courses in which the elastic isincorpoa rated will present s. selvage. V

4. A method of knitting 'connected articles as with by knitting the sameat alternate wales only, and thereafter, at spaced intervals, knittingsimilar courses of non-elastic and elastic yarns so that upon ravelingin the direction of knitting,

any one of said courses having an elastic yarn course incorporated incombination therewith will present a selvage.

EUGENE ST. PIERRE.

